Natchez Trace Trail

The National Park Service on Monday rejected a forensic scientist's request to exhume the body of 19th century explorer Meriwether Lewis. Scientist James Starrs had sought to prove that Lewis was murdered and did not commit suicide in 1809. Jerry Belson, director of the National Park Service's southeast region, said in a letter to Starrs that the exhumation would be inconsistent with policies barring the disturbance of burial sites in national parklands unless threatened with destruction.

Newport Theatre Arts Center takes a raucous trip to the Deep South in "The Robber Bridegroom," a strange musical journey that is often outrageous and never dull. Ideally, the night would be eerily still with only a sliver of cloud-shrouded moon lighting the landscape to create the proper atmosphere. But this is Newport Beach, and the noise and bright lights of Coast Highway don't cooperate.